NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured a unique view of Earth setting and Phobos, one of the Red Planet’s two moons, in the same frame using its Mast Camera. This instrument consists of two digital CCD cameras capable of acquiring multi-spectral (400–1000 nm), stereoscopic images of the Martian surface and atmosphere at two specific fixed focal lengths.
The image that you see above is actually a composite of five short exposures and 12 long exposures all taken on Sept. 5, 2024, the 4,295th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s mission. When zoomed in, you can see Phobos on the left and Earth on the right, but from the rover’s perspective, this inset area would only be about half the width of a thumb held at arm’s length.
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Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam,” said JPL.
